Portraying Nature and Constructing Gender: An Eco-critiacal Reading of Bárðar saga Snæfellsáss” and “Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar”

Abstract

This MA dissertation looks at “Bárðar saga Snæfellsáss” and “Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar” through the lens of eco-criticism, exploring how “nature writing” interacts with gender construction in the two “Íslendingasögur”. It is argued that the two saga-authors’ portrayal of nature – including meteorological phenomenon, landscape, place of residence and animals -- contributes not only to plot progression, but also to characterization and the externalisation of emotion. The images of certain natural objects -- like the sea, the moon, light and darkness, frigidity, the horse and the cave – are rich in metaphorical and theological connotations; and with them, covert messages are embedded into the narratological performance of “female heroism” and “Christian masculinity”. To some extent, the co-existence of Christian and pagan qualities within certain characters is also resonant with medieval Scandinavia’s ongoing transition from heathenism to Christianity. “Nature writing” in the two sagas is both a realistic depiction of natural surroundings and a projection of the saga-authors’ opinions and sentiments, whereby nature is infiltrated into rather than separate from human subjectivity.